EUROPEUS

In a poll commissioned by the BBC to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the 1947 independence of India from Britain and the official founding of Pakistan it emerged that a third of 16-34-year-old British Asians do not feel British, three-quarters felt their culture was being diluted by living in the UK and nearly half believed white people do not treat them as British. However, one key aspect that the survey seemed to ignore is how British Asians define being British.

On Saturday night my English neighbour and his Finnish wife went out for a few drinks with some friends before they bid farewell to Finland and began their new life back in Britain. Midway through their evening at Zetor, a theme restaurant/nightclub in the centre of Helsinki, my friend underwent some brutal physical abuse from the club's security staff after he foolishly punched a Finnish man who had been sexually harassing his wife and then tried to steal her handbag.

The time for the National Elections is getting closer in Finland and you cannot help noticing that candidates and parties are gradually getting more aggressive in their campaigns. The two major parties, Keskusta (the Center Party) and SDP (Social-Democrats) seem to have found the balance after four years in a coalition government and their campaigns seem slower and calmer than they were four years ago.

In a televised interview, the Finnish Euro-MP, Ville Itälä made a very interesting comment that somehow reflects the skepticism of the last four years in Europe. He said that the EU has been far too forgiving of would-be EU members who don’t live up to their commitments.